BOSTON, Mass.—Tournament Most Outstanding Player Colin Larkin (Waterford, Mass.) scored the first-ever New England Hockey Conference Championship Goal 12:51 into overtime, to lift #7/8 UMass Boston Men's Hockey to their first tournament title since 1982 and the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

THE BASICS

#7/8 UMass Boston 3, #7/8 Babson College 2

(UMass Boston 21-4-3)

(Babson College 19-6-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

After trailing 1-0 and 2-1, senior Alex Demchuk (Calgary, Alberta) forced an extra session with a highlight-reel goal 6:16 into the third period. Larkin found a rebound off a hard shot from Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J.) and stuffed it home to the near post at 12:51, to lift UMass Boston to the first-ever New England Hockey Conference Tournament Championship.

Larkin proved to be Babson All-American goalie Jamie Murray's kryptonite once again, as the sophomore scored his second overtime game-winner and seventh overall goal in six contests against Murray. He was joined on the NEHC All-Tournament team by senior Andrew Crawford (Medford, Mass.), and junior captain Albee Daley (Averill Park, N.Y.). 

After not scoring a goal in his first 67 games, Crawford opened the scoring for UMass Boston, to tie the game at 1-1. Demchuk added the second tally, while Bishop, Matt Lemire (Townsend, Mass.) and David MacGregor (Asuza, Calif.) all picked up assists. 

In net, Billy Faust (Alta Loma, Calif.) earned his first-ever playoff win against the Beavers in three tries, with 33 saves on 35 shots. With the win, UMass Boston improved to 3-7 all-time against their rivals in the postseason and snapped a 5-game losing streak in the postseason.

Murray had a phenomenal showing in what was likely his final collegiate game, as the senior stopped 42 of 45 shots. Murray stopped 15 of 16 shots in the second and 14 of 15 in the third, before giving up a goal on the eighth and final shot he faced in the extra session. 

Murray was joined by Mike Vollmin and Matt Brazel on the All-Tournament Team.

Ryan Gouveia and Bobby Hall each scored their second goals of the season for Babson, who fell in overtime of the championship game of the conference tournament for a second-consecutive season.

Babson crept out to a 1-0 lead at 17:35 of the first off a perfectly-executed play. Vollmin sent a hard shot from the far side off of Faust's pads and Gouveia scooped up the rebound on the near side and fired it home for a 1-0 lead.

UMass Boston answered back at 9:40 of the second, as Crawford scored his second goal in as many games. An attempted Babson clear on the near side came all the way around to Crawford, and the senior fired home a shot into the top near corner to even the game 1-1. 

The Beavers needed just 54 seconds to grab the lead right back, as Bobby Hall tapped home a loose puck along the goal line, after Bill Seligman beat Faust through the five-hole. Matt Brazel picked up the second assist on the play. 

UMass Boston picked up their play from there and dominated the rest of the period, but the Beacons couldn't find an equalizer.

Demchuk proved up to the task, as the senior scored the biggest goal of his career. The senior deflected a pass from MacGregor into the air and then batted a behind-the-back, no-look shot over Murray's shoulder for a 2-2 tie 6:16 into the third.

UMass Boston continued to press throughout the third and outshot the Beavers 15-9, but they couldn't find a game-winner against Murray.

With both teams starting to tire, UMass Boston found the game-winner 12:51 into the extra session. Lemire won the puck along the near boards and sent it across for Bishop at the blue line. The junior defenseman teed-up a shot that Murray stopped, but Larkin found the rebound and sent it just past Murray's outstretched pads inside the near post for the game-winning goal.

BY THE NUMBERS

• For the first time this season, Babson was outshot, as the Beacons earned a 45-35 edge in shots.
• After being dominated in special team the past three postseason against Babson, UMass Boston held Babson to an 0-for-2 showing on the power-play. The Beacons finished 0-for-1.
• Larkin has now scored seven goals against Murray. No other player has scored more than four.
• The Beacons held a 41-37 edge in face-offs.
• Demchuk continues his streak of scoring big goals at the right time. After playing in just one game through his first three years, Demchuk scored five goals this season, including two against Babson and two against Norwich.
• With the win, UMass Boston Athletics set a new school record with their fourth conference championship win of the academic year. The Beacons had never won more than three championships before this year.
• Faust stopped 77 of 82 shots in the NEHC Tournament. The senior posted a .939 save percentage and a 1.67 goals against average.
• Lemire's assist marked the first point of the playoffs for the NEHC's leading point scorer (43 points).

BY THE NUMBERS 

UMass Boston will learn their fate on Monday at 10:30 a.m., when the NCAA airs the NCAA Selection show on NCAA.com.